JP2014525171A - Dynamic adaptive streaming proxy for unicast or broadcast / multicast services - Google Patents

Abstract

  Techniques for dynamic adaptive streaming proxies for unicast or broadcast / multicast services are provided. For example, a method for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content for a multimedia client in a wireless communication network (WCN) includes: one or more different locators for multimedia content in a proxy component of a WCN network entity. Or modifying the data structure associating the position indication with each different encoding format for the multimedia content to obtain a modified data structure. The method may include controlling an encoding format for multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client, at least in part by a modified data structure.

Description

  Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to dynamic adaptive streaming proxies for unicast or broadcast / multicast services.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This patent application is assigned to “DYNAMIC ADAPIVE STREAMING PROXY FOR UNICAST” filed on June 30, 2011, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Claims priority of provisional application 61 / 503,601 entitled "OR BROADCAST / MULTICAST SERVICES".

  Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These wireless networks can be multiple access networks that can support multiple users by sharing available network resources. Examples of such multiple access networks include code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and single carrier FDMA ( SC-FDMA) network.

  A wireless communication network may include a number of base stations that can support communication for a number of user equipments (UEs), also referred to as mobile devices or mobile entities. A UE may communicate with a base station via downlink and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station. As used herein, “base station” means an eNode B (eNB), Node B, Home Node B, or similar network component of a wireless communication system.

  3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the evolution of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM (registered trademark)) and Universal Mobile Tele is there. The LTE physical layer (PHY) provides a highly efficient way of conveying both data and control information between a base station such as an evolved Node B (eNB) and a mobile device such as a UE. In conventional applications, the method for facilitating high bandwidth communication for multimedia has been a single frequency network (SFN) operation. The SFN communicates with the subscriber UE using a radio transmitter such as eNB, for example. In unicast operation, each eNB is controlled to transmit a signal carrying information intended for one or more specific subscriber UEs. The uniqueness of unicast signaling allows person-to-person services such as voice calls, text messaging, or video calls.

  In broadcast operation, several eNBs in a broadcast area broadcast multiple signals in a synchronized manner and carry information that can be received and accessed by any subscriber UE in the broadcast area. This universality of broadcast behavior allows higher efficiencies in transmitting information of public interest, for example, in multimedia broadcast and multimedia unicast services that provide various types of audio-video content to end users Is possible. As demand for multimedia content and system capabilities increase, system operators need tools to flexibly and adaptively control the use of wireless resources for multimedia content.

  The following presents a simplified summary of such aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of one or more aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all contemplated aspects and does not identify key or critical elements of all aspects or delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

  Disclosed is an apparatus and method for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content for multimedia clients of a wireless communication network (WCN). According to one aspect, a method for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content for multimedia clients in a wireless communication network is provided in a proxy component of a WCN network entity with one or more different locators for multimedia content. Or modifying the data structure associating the position indication with each different encoding format for multimedia content to obtain a modified data structure and at least in part by the modified data structure; Controlling the encoding format for the multimedia content provided in.

  According to another aspect, a system for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content provided to a multimedia client of a wireless communication network (WCN) is different for multimedia content in a proxy component of a WCN network entity. Modify the data structure received from the content server to associate a locator or position indication with each different encoding format for multimedia content to obtain a modified data structure, thereby doing at least one multimedia Means for controlling the encoding format for multimedia content provided to the client are included.

  According to another aspect, a system for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content provided to a multimedia client of a wireless communication network (WCN) uses different locators or location indications for the multimedia content for the multimedia content. Modify the data structure received from the content server to associate with each different encoding format to obtain a modified data structure and control the encoding format for multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client At least one protocol configured to act as a proxy component of a WCN network entity between at least one multimedia client and a content server. And processors, coupled to the at least one processor, and a memory for storing data.

  According to another aspect, a computer program product modifies and modifies a data structure received from a content server that associates different locators or location indications for multimedia content with respective different encoding formats for multimedia content. Proxy component of a WCN network entity between at least one multimedia client and a content server for obtaining a data structure and controlling an encoding format for multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client Including a computer readable medium comprising code for operating as.

  It should be understood that other aspects will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein the various aspects are shown and described by way of illustration. The drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a telecommunications system. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a downlink frame structure in a telecommunications system. FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a design of a base station / eNB and a UE configured in accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. FIG. 5 is a signaling frame illustrating an example of symbol allocation for unicast and multicast signals. The figure which shows the MBMS over a Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area in a MBSFN service area. 1 is a block diagram illustrating components of a wireless communication system for providing or supporting MBSFN services. FIG. FIG. 3 is a network diagram illustrating components of a wireless communication system including data format control using a redirection component and a proxy component. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing more detailed aspects of the components of the system shown in FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for operating a DASH proxy. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a DASH protocol related to multimedia content distribution. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary conversion of multimedia content 950A-B. FIG. 8 is a call diagram illustrating aspects of a method for controlling the provision of multimedia content from a content server to a mobile entity using the system shown in FIG. FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a method for controlling data rate using a proxy component in an adaptive streaming service context. FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a method for controlling data rate using a proxy component in an adaptive streaming service context. FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a method for controlling data rate using a proxy component in an adaptive streaming service context. FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a method for controlling data rate using a proxy component in an adaptive streaming service context. The figure which shows the example of the apparatus for enforcing the method of FIGS. The figure which shows the example of the apparatus for enforcing the method of FIGS. The figure which shows the example of the apparatus for enforcing the method of FIGS. The figure which shows the example of the apparatus for enforcing the method of FIGS.

  The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be implemented. The detailed description includes specific details for providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

  The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and other networks. The terms “network” and “system” are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000. UTRA includes wideband CDMA (WCDMA®) and other variants of CDMA. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The OFDMA network implements wireless technologies such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. can do. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are new releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, certain aspects of the techniques are described below for LTE, and LTE terminology is used in much of the description below.

  FIG. 1 shows a wireless communication network 100, which may be an LTE network. The wireless network 100 may include a number of eNBs 110 and other network entities. An eNB may be a station that communicates with the UE and may also be referred to as a base station, Node B, access point, or other terminology. Each eNB 110a, 110b, 110c may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” may refer to an eNB's coverage area and / or an eNB subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

  An eNB may provide communication coverage for macro cells, pico cells, femto cells, and / or other types of cells. The macro cell covers a relatively large geographic area (eg, a few kilometers in radius) and allows unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A pico cell covers a relatively small geographic area and allows unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell can cover a relatively small geographic area (eg, home) and has a UE associated with the femto cell (eg, a UE in a closed subscriber group (CSG), a user in the home) Limited access by a UE for example). An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNB for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico eNB. An eNB for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto eNB or a home eNB (HNB). In the example shown in FIG. 1, eNBs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro eNBs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. eNB 110x may be a pico eNB for pico cell 102x serving UE 120x. eNBs 110y and 110z may be femto eNBs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. An eNB may support one or multiple (eg, three) cells.

  The wireless network 100 may also include a relay station 110r. A relay station receives a transmission of data and / or other information from an upstream station (eg, eNB or UE) and transmits a transmission of that data and / or other information to a downstream station (eg, UE or eNB) Station. A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions to other UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 1, relay station 110r may communicate with eNB 110a and UE 120r to facilitate communication between eNB 110a and UE 120r. A relay station may be called a relay eNB, a relay, or the like.

  The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including various types of eNBs, eg, macro eNB, pico eNB, femto eNB, relay, and the like. These different types of eNBs may have different impacts on different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and interference in the wireless network 100. For example, a macro eNB may have a high transmission power level (eg, 20 watts), while a pico eNB, femto eNB, and relay may have a lower transmission power level (eg, 1 watt).

  The wireless network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. Broadcast multicast operations may require synchronization of base stations within the definition area, but the technology is not so limited. For synchronous operation, eNBs may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different eNBs may be roughly aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, eNBs may have different frame timings and transmissions from different eNBs may not be time aligned. The techniques described herein may be used for both synchronous and asynchronous operations.

  Network controller 130 may couple to a set of eNBs and coordinate and control these eNBs. Network controller 130 may communicate with eNB 110 via the backhaul. The eNBs 110 may also communicate with each other directly or indirectly via, for example, a wireless backhaul or a wireline backhaul.

  The UEs 120 may be distributed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be fixed or mobile. A UE may also be called a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, and so on. The UE may be a cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless communication device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, or other mobile device. A UE may be able to communicate with macro eNBs, pico eNBs, femto eNBs, relays, or other network entities. In FIG. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates the desired transmission between the UE and the serving eNB that is the eNB designated to serve the UE on the downlink and / or uplink. . The dashed line with double arrows indicates interfering transmissions between the UE and the eNB.

  LTE utilizes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may depend on the system bandwidth. For example, K may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048 for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth can also be partitioned into subbands. For example, the subbands can cover 1.08 MHz and have 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively. There may be subbands.

  FIG. 2 shows a downlink frame structure 200 used in LTE. The downlink transmission timeline may be divided into radio frame units 202, 204, 206. Each radio frame can have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)) and can be partitioned into 10 subframes 208 with indices 0-9. Each subframe may include two slots, eg, slot 210. Thus, each radio frame may include 20 slots with indexes 0-19. Each slot has L symbol periods, eg, 7 symbol periods 212 for a normal cyclic prefix (CP), or 6 symbol periods for an extended cyclic prefix as shown in FIG. May be included. A normal CP and an extended CP may be referred to herein as different CP types. An index of 0-2L-1 may be assigned to 2L symbol periods in each subframe. Available time frequency resources may be partitioned into resource blocks. Each resource block may cover N subcarriers (eg, 12 subcarriers) in one slot.

  In LTE, the eNB may transmit a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) for each cell in the eNB. The primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal are transmitted in symbol periods 6 and 5 in each of subframes 0 and 5 of each radio frame having a normal cyclic prefix, respectively, as shown in FIG. Can be done. The synchronization signal may be used by the UE for cell detection and acquisition. The eNB may transmit a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) in symbol periods 0 to 3 in slot 1 of subframe 0. PBCH may carry certain system information.

  The eNB transmits a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), which is shown in the entire first symbol period of FIG. 2, but only in a portion of the first symbol period of each subframe. obtain. PCFICH may carry several (M) symbol periods used for the control channel, where M may be equal to 1, 2 or 3, and may vary from subframe to subframe. M can also be equal to 4 for small system bandwidths, eg, with less than 10 resource blocks. In the example shown in FIG. 2, M = 3. The eNB may transmit a physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in the first M symbol periods of each subframe (M = 3 in FIG. 2). The PHICH may carry information to support hybrid automatic retransmission (HARQ). The PDCCH may carry information on resource allocation for the UE and control information for the downlink channel. Although not shown in the first symbol period of FIG. 2, it should be understood that PDCCH and PHICH are also included in the first symbol period. Similarly, PHICH and PDCCH are also in both the second and third symbol periods, but are not shown as such in FIG. The eNB may transmit a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) during the remaining symbol periods of each subframe. The PDSCH may carry data for UEs scheduled for data transmission on the downlink. Various signals and channels in LTE are described in the published 3GPP TS 36.211 entitled "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation".

  The eNB may transmit PSS, SSS and PBCH at the system bandwidth center of 1.08 MHz used by the eNB. The eNB may send PCFICH and PHICH across the entire system bandwidth during each symbol period during which these channels are sent. The eNB may send PDCCH to a group of UEs in some part of the system bandwidth. An eNB may send a PDSCH to a specific UE in a specific part of the system bandwidth. The eNB can transmit PSS, SSS, PBCH, PCFICH and PHICH to all UEs in a broadcast mode, can transmit PDCCH to a specific UE in a unicast mode, and can also transmit a unicast mode to a specific UE Can transmit the PDSCH.

  A UE may be within the coverage of multiple eNBs. One of those eNBs can be selected to serve the UE. The serving eNB may be selected based on various criteria such as received power, path loss, signal to noise ratio (SNR), and so on.

  FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating a design of a base station / eN 110 and a UE 120, which may be one of the base stations / eNBs and one of the UEs of FIG. In the limited association scenario, the base station 110 may be the macro eNB 110c in FIG. 1 and the UE 120 may be the UE 120y. Base station 110 may also be some other type of base station. The base station 110 may include antennas 334a to 334t, and the UE 120 may include antennas 352a to 352r.

  At base station 110, transmit processor 320 may receive data from data source 312 and receive control information from controller / processor 340. The control information may be for PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH, etc. The data may be for PDSCH and the like. Processor 320 can process (eg, encode and symbol map) data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The processor 320 may also generate reference symbols for, for example, PSS, SSS, and cell specific reference signals. A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 330 may perform spatial processing (eg, precoding) on the data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, if applicable, and output The symbol stream can be provided to modulators (MODs) 332a-332t. Each modulator 332 may process a respective output symbol stream (eg, for OFDM) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 332 may further process (eg, convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from modulators 332a through 332t may be transmitted via antennas 334a through 334t, respectively.

  In UE 120, antennas 352a-352r can receive downlink signals from base station 110 and can provide received signals to demodulators (DEMOD) 354a-354r, respectively. Each demodulator 354 may adjust (eg, filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 354 may further process input samples (eg, for example, OFDM) to obtain received symbols. MIMO detector 356 can obtain received symbols from all demodulators 354a-354r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols, if applicable, and provide detected symbols. Receive processor 358 processes (eg, demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes) the detected symbols, provides UE 120 decoded data to data sink 360, and provides decoded control information to controller / processor 380. Can do.

  On the uplink, at UE 120, transmit processor 364 may receive and process data from data source 362 (eg, for PUSCH) and control from controller / processor 380 (eg, for PUCCH). Information can be received and processed. The processor 364 may also generate a reference symbol for the reference signal. Symbols from transmit processor 364 may be precoded by TX MIMO processor 366, where applicable, and further processed by modulators 354a-354r (eg, for SC-FDM, etc.) and transmitted to base station 110. . At base station 110, the uplink signal from UE 120 is received by antenna 334, processed by demodulator 332, detected by MIMO detector 336 when applicable, and further processed by receive processor 338 to allow UE 120 to The sent decoded data and control information can be obtained. The processor 338 can provide the decoded data to the data sink 339 and the decoded control information to the controller / processor 340.

  Controllers / processors 340 and 380 may direct the operation at base station 110 and UE 120, respectively. Processor 340 and / or other processors and modules at base station 110 may perform or direct the execution of various processes for the techniques described herein. Processor 380 and / or other processors and modules at UE 120 may perform or perform various processes for the functional blocks illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 and / or the techniques described herein. You can also give instructions. Memories 342 and 382 may store data and program codes for base station 110 and UE 120, respectively. A scheduler 344 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

  In one configuration, the UE 120 for wireless communication includes means for detecting interference from a base station interfering during the connected mode of the UE, and means for selecting a given resource of the interfering base station. A means for obtaining an error rate of a physical downlink control channel on a given resource, and for declaring a radio link failure executable in response to the error rate exceeding a predetermined level Means. In one aspect, the aforementioned means is a processor, controller / processor 380, memory 382, receive processor 358, MIMO detector 356, demodulator 354a, configured to perform the functions listed by the aforementioned means. And the antenna 352a. In another aspect, the aforementioned means may be a module or any device configured to perform the functions listed by the aforementioned means.

EMBMS and Unicast Signaling in Single Frequency Networks One mechanism for facilitating high bandwidth communication for multimedia has been single frequency network (SFN) operation. Specifically, multimedia broadcast multicast services, also known as evolved MBMS (eMBMS) (including, for example, what is recently known as Multimedia Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) in the LTE field) MBMS for (MBMS) and LTE can utilize such SFN operation. The SFN communicates with the subscriber UE using a radio transmitter such as eNB, for example. Since groups of eNBs can transmit information in a synchronized manner, the signals reinforce each other rather than interfering with each other. In the eMBMS situation, shared content is transmitted from multiple eNBs of the LTE network to multiple UEs. Thus, within a given eMBMS area, a UE can receive eMBMS signals from any eNB (or eNB) within radio range. However, to decode the eMBMS signal, each UE receives multicast control channel (MCCH) information from the serving eNB over the non-eMBMS channel. MCCH information changes with time, and notification of the change is provided through another non-eMBMS channel, PDCCH. Thus, in order to decode eMBMS signals within a particular eMBMS area, each UE is given MCCH and PDCCH signals by one of the eNBs in the area.

  In accordance with an aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, a wireless network (eg, 3GPP network) having functionality related to single carrier optimization for eMBMS is provided. eMBMS provides an efficient method for transmitting shared content from an LTE network to multiple mobile devices such as UEs. Aspects of the present disclosure are not limited to eMBMS or other multicast operations, but can also be applied to unicast operations.

  With respect to the physical layer (PHY) of eMBMS for LTE frequency division duplex (FDD), the channel structure comprises time division multiplexing (TDM) resources that distinguish eMBMS and unicast transmissions on mixed carriers. This allows for flexible and dynamic spectrum usage. Currently, a subset (up to 60%) of subframes, known as Multimedia Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframes, may be reserved for eMBMS transmissions. Thus, current eMBMS designs allow a maximum of 6 out of 10 subframes for eMBMS.

  An example of subframe allocation for eMBMS is shown in FIG. 4, which shows the existing allocation of MBSFN reference signals to MBSFN subframe 400 for single carrier. The components shown in FIG. 4 correspond to the components shown in FIG. 2, which shows the individual subcarriers in each slot 402 and resource block (RB) 404. In 3GPP LTE, RB 404 spans 12 subcarriers over a 0.5 ms slot duration, with each subcarrier having a bandwidth of 15 kHz and a total of 180 kHz per RB. Subframes may be allocated for unicast or eMBMS, for example, in a sequence of subframes 408 labeled 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. , Subframes 0, 4, 5, and 9 may be excluded from eMBMS in FDD. Also, subframes 0, 1, 5, and 6 may be excluded from eMBMS in time division duplex (TDD). More specifically, subframes 0, 4, 5, and 9 may be used for PSS / SSS / PBCH / Paging / System Information Block (SIB) and unicast services. The remaining subframes in the column, eg, subframes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8, may be configured as eMBMS subframes.

  Continuing with reference to FIG. 4, within each eMBMS subframe 400, the first one or two symbols 406 may be used for unicast reference symbols (RS) and control signaling. The CP length of the first one or two symbols 406 may follow the CP length of subframe 0. If the CP lengths are different, a transmission gap may occur between the first one or two symbols 406 and the eMBMS symbol. In a related aspect, the overall eMBMS bandwidth utilization is 42.5% considering RS overhead (eg, 6 eMBMS subframes and 2 control symbols in each eMBMS subframe). obtain. Known techniques for providing MBSFN RSs and unicast RSs typically involve allocating MBSFN RSs in MBSFN subframes (as shown in FIG. 4) and allocating unicast RSs separately in non-MBSFN subframes. . More specifically, as FIG. 4 shows, the extended CP of the MBSFN subframe 400 includes the MBSFN RS 410 but does not include the unicast RS. The present technology is not limited to the particular frame allocation scheme illustrated by FIGS. 2 and 4 presented by way of example and not limitation. As used herein, a multicast session or multicast broadcast may use any suitable frame allocation scheme.

eMBMS Service Area FIG. 5 shows a system 500 that includes an MBMS service area 502 that includes multiple MBSFN areas 504, 506, 508, which themselves include multiple cells or base stations 510. As used herein, “MBMS service area” refers to a group of wireless transmission cells in which an MBMS service is available. For example, certain sports programs or other programs may be broadcast by base stations within an MBMS service area at certain times. The area where a specific program is broadcast defines the MBMS service area. The MBMS service area may be composed of one or more “MBSFN areas” as shown at 504, 506 and 508. As used herein, an MBSFN area refers to a group of cells (eg, cell 510) that are currently broadcasting a particular program that is a synchronized scheme using the MBSFN protocol. The “MBSFN Sync Area” is interconnected and configured in such a way that it operates in a synchronized manner and can broadcast a specific program using the MBSFN protocol regardless of whether it is currently doing so. Points to a group of marked cells. Each eNB may belong to only one MBSFN synchronization area on a given frequency layer. It is worth noting that the MBMS service area 502 may include one or more MBSFN synchronization areas (not shown). Conversely, the MBSFN synchronization area may include one or more MBSFN areas or MBMS service areas. In general, an MBSFN area is composed of all or part of a single MBSFN synchronization area and is located within a single MBMS service area. Overlap of various MBSFN areas is supported, and a single eNB may belong to several different MBSFN areas within a single synchronization area. For example, up to 8 independent MCCHs may be configured in the system information block (SIB) 13 to support membership in different MBSFN areas. An MBSFN area reserved cell or base station is a cell / base station in the MBSFN area that does not contribute to MBSFN transmission, eg, a cell near the boundary of the MBSFN synchronization area, or a cell that is not required for MBSFN transmission due to its location .

eMBMS System Components and Functions FIG. 6 shows functional entities of a wireless communication system 600 for providing or supporting MBSFN services. With respect to quality of service (QoS), system 600 may use guaranteed bit rate (GBR) type MBMS bearers, where the maximum bit rate (MBR) is equal to GBR. These components are shown and described by way of example and do not limit the inventive concepts described herein, which are employed in the deployment of other architectures and functions for distributing and controlling multicast transmissions. Can be done.

  System 600 can include an MBMS gateway (MBMS GW) 616. The MBMS GW 616 controls the Internet Protocol (IP) multicast distribution of MBMS user plane data to the eNodeB 604 via the M1 interface, and one eNB 604 is shown among many possible eNBs. In addition, the MBMS GW controls the IP multicast distribution of MBMS user plane data to the UTRAN radio network controller (RNC) 620 via the M1 interface, where one UTRAN RNC 620 of many possible RNCs is shown. ing. The M1 interface is associated with MBMS data (user plane) and uses IP for data packet distribution. The eNB 604 may provide MBMS content to the UE / mobile device 602 via the E-UTRAN Uu interface. The RNC 620 may provide MBMS content to the UE mobile device 622 via the Uu interface. The MBMS GW 616 may further perform MBMS session control signaling, eg, MBMS session start and session stop, via the mobility management entity (MME) 608 and the Sm interface. The MBMS GW 616 further provides an interface for the entity using the MBMS bearer through the SG-mb (user plane) reference point and uses the MBMS bearer through the SGi-mb (control plane) reference point to An interface can be provided. The SG-mb interface carries MBMS bearer service specific signaling. The SGi-mb interface is a user plane interface for MBMS data distribution. MBMS data delivery may be performed by IP unicast transmission, which may be the default mode, or by IP multicasting. The MBMS GW 616 may provide a control plane function for MBMS over UTRAN through a serving general packet radio service support node (SGSN) 618 and Sn / Iu interface.

  System 600 can further include a multicast coordination entity (MCE) 606. The MCE 606 can perform admission control functions for MBMS content and allocate time and frequency radio resources used by all eNBs in the MBSFN area for multi-cell MBMS transmission using MBSFN operation. . The MCE 606 can determine a radio configuration for the MBSFN area, such as, for example, a modulation and coding scheme. The MCE 606 can manage multiplexing of eMBMS services by scheduling and controlling user plane transmissions of MBMS content to determine which services should be multiplexed on the multicast channel (MCH). The MCE 606 can participate in MBMS session control signaling with the MME 608 through the M3 interface, and can provide the control plane interface M2 to the eNB 604.

  System 600 may further include a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 612 in communication with content provider server 614. The BM-SC 616 can handle the ingestion of multicast content from one or more sources, such as a content provider 614, and provide other high-level management functions as described below. These functions may include membership functions, including, for example, authentication and initiation of MBMS services for identified UEs. The BM-SC 616 may further perform MBMS session and transmission functions, live broadcast scheduling, and distribution including MBMS and related distribution functions. The BM-SC 616 may further provide service notifications and descriptions, such as notification of content available for multicast. A separate packet data protocol (PDP) situation may be used to carry control messages between the UE and the BM-SC. The BM-SC further provides security functions such as key management, manages charging of content providers according to parameters such as data volume and QoS, and content for MBMS in UTRAN and in E-UTRAN in broadcast mode Synchronization can be provided and header compression for MBSFN data can be provided in UTRAN. The BM-SC 612 may indicate session start, update, and stop to the MBMS-GW 616, including session attributes such as QoS and MBMS service area.

  System 600 can further include a multicast management entity (MME) 608 in communication with MCE 606 and MBMS-GW 608. The MME 600 may provide a control plane function for MBMS through E-UTRAN. In addition, the MME may provide multicast related information defined by the MBMS-GW 616 to the eNB 604 and the UE 602. The Sm interface between the MME 608 and the MBMS-GW 616 may be used to carry MBMS control signaling, eg, session start and stop signals.

  System 600 may further include a packet data network (PDN) gateway (GW) 610, which may be abbreviated as P-GW. The P-GW 610 may provide an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer between the UE 602 and the BM-SC 612 for signaling and / or user data. Thus, the P-GW can receive a U uniform resource locator (URL) based on a request originating from the UE associated with an IP address assigned to the UE. The P-GW can redirect the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) adaptive streaming request to the proxy component 632 of the BM-SC 612 using the redirector component 630. The redirector component 630 may include or be associated with a high loading ratio detection module (HDM) shown in FIG. The BM-SC 612 may also be linked to one or more content providers via the P-GW 610, and the P-GW 610 can communicate with the BM-SC 612 via an IP interface. The BM-SC may include a proxy component (or proxy entity) 632 that handles redirected adaptive streaming requests from the mobile entity. Proxy component 632 is shown in FIG.

  The system may include a new interface that allows direct communication between several system components to facilitate aspects of the methods and apparatus disclosed herein. For example, a direct interface 624 in a single communication link may be provided between the eNB 604 and the BM-SC 612. As a further example, a direct interface 626 may be provided between the MCE 606 and the BM-SC 612. The eNB 604 may be indirectly linked via various operational and maintenance (O & M) links 628 to various system components including, but not limited to, BM-SC.

Dynamic Adaptive Streaming Dynamic adaptive streaming in unicast transmission is a 3GPP2 TS 26.247 v. 1.3.0 (2011-03) “Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (3GP-DASH)”. Similar standards may include Apple Live Streaming (ALS), HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), and Adaptive HTTP Streaming (AHS). The DASH described in the aforementioned documents, and similar standards, is the video bit rate, resolution, or other quality required by the mobile entity for the unicast connection through which the media component is received. Operate at the mobile device level by selecting factors. The mobile entity may indicate the desired QoS based on its own hardware configuration and available options for unicast services. QoS can be described or indicated by “expression” in a media presentation description (MPD). A network entity that controls the quality of service for unicast transmissions, e.g., BM-SC, is instructed by the mobile entity to provide the requested quality of service, e.g. respond. More detailed aspects of a particular segment, eg, data format, should generally be consistent with the segment's QoS indicated in the MPD, but can be defined in the initialization segment. This adaptive streaming capability is designed to be dynamic, which means that the quality of service can be adjusted during unicast transmission, for example, the quality of service depends on the movement of mobile devices or other factors As the unicast signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) changes, it can be adjusted at specified frame boundaries or times, or the adaptive streaming capability to support the transition of unicast media sessions to alternative wireless clients Designed.

Problems and Solutions for Controlling Coding Formats Quality of service may be related to the transmission bit rate depending on the coding format used for a particular unicast or broadcast transmission. That is, the encoding format may determine the required transmission bit rate for streaming or broadcast services. In general, DASH and similar standards considered for unicast services may rely on a feedback mechanism from the mobile device to one or more network entities that control the quality of service for unicast transmissions. A network entity that controls quality of service may reside outside of a wireless communication system that provides unicast transport, eg, in a content server located in a connected network. The content server has a data structure that allows a multimedia client (eg, a mobile entity) to select a desired multimedia content representation that uses an associated locator or location indication, eg, a network address, indicated by the MPD. Can be provided.

  One problem that can occur in DASH and similar adaptive streaming situations is that quality of service (eg, bit rate) may be determined by entities outside the control of the wireless network operator, and thus optimal service for the network. Quality is that it may not fit. For example, a third party content server may provide an MPD that indicates a service option that cannot be provided by the wireless network for the requested content segment to be streamed. As a further example, a content server using MPD or similar data structure may allow a relatively high bit rate option, but if some clients in the wireless area choose the high data rate option, The resulting traffic exceeds the network carrying capacity. Such problems can occur because content providers generally do not have information about what level of service a particular network can support at any given time. This is because they are interested in providing services. In existing solutions, network operators are unable to control unicast quality of service for various dynamic adaptive streaming protocols, including but not limited to DASH.

  Similar problems may occur in broadcast or multicast situations, in which case the quality of service of the multicast or broadcast service may be indicated by the service guide. The service guide may comprise another type of data structure that associates different locators or location indications for multimedia content with respective different encoding formats for multimedia content. The service guide can inform the client about broadcast / multicast signal locations from which a particular quality broadcast or multicast service can be obtained. For example, the locator or position indication may include a specific carrier and a subframe index or index set. Service guides for broadcast or multicast content are multiplayer from content sources that do not provide content in an encoded format (or formats) that would optimize broadcast or multicast services within a particular network area. Media content can be requested by clients at various times. It may be desirable for network operators to advertise and make available multimedia content within a particular area with one or more qualities of service different from those available from content sources. For example, a client may desire content in a lower or higher quality encoded format than the content was originally encoded. For example, the client may not be able to support high bandwidth, or the client may desire a lower quality encoded format because the output screen resolution of the client is below the original encoded format. is there. Providing content with different qualities may require transcoding of the content by a network entity to obtain data in the desired format for broadcast. Existing solutions do not allow efficient integrated control of service announcement and transcoding functions for multicast and broadcast situations. Transcoding may be desirable in unicast situations for similar reasons.

  A mixture of the aforementioned problems can occur in demand-based multicast or broadcast situations. In demand-based situations, services may be transitioned from unicast delivery to broadcast / multicast delivery, or vice versa. Thus, both aspects of the unicast and broadcast / multicast issues summarized above may exist.

  These and other problems can be solved by the methods, systems and apparatus disclosed herein, which are in particular via unicast adaptive streaming, broadcast, multicast, or unicast and broadcast delivery modes. Regardless of the transition between and, it may allow efficient but flexible control of quality of service by wireless network operators for multimedia content delivery from third parties and other content providers.

  With reference to FIG. 7, a high level view of a wireless communication system 700 may include a UE 716 that receives multimedia content (eg, streaming digital audio video content) from a content server 714. UE 716 and content server 714 may use the DASH protocol or other adaptive streaming protocols. In one aspect, the UE 716 can direct the DASH packet request directly to the content server 714 and receive content directly from the server 714. This can still occur under some controllable conditions, but a redirection component 704 somewhere between the UE 716 and the content server 714 (eg, associated with or within P-GW 702) The request may be intercepted and redirected to BM-SC 706, which may include a DASH proxy and transcoding component 708. Redirection component 704 may include or be associated with HDM. For example, the HDM can determine the total demand by counting the number of UEs accessing the same service or content by unicast transmission from the same area. When HDM detects multiple UEs accessing the same service / content (“high interest”), redirection component 704 may redirect the request based on high interest. Request redirection may be based on whether the request is from a UE that has subscribed to an eMBMS service. A signaling interface 718 may be included between the redirection component 704 and the BM-SC 706 to redirect the request. Proxy component 708 can process the request, optionally modify the request, and send it to server 714. In doing so, proxy component 708 may appear to be UE 716 from the perspective of server 714. Server 714 may generally comprise third party nodes that may not be under the control of nodes 702, 706 and other node operators. In response to the request, server 714 may return the multimedia content to proxy component 708. If the content is to be delivered by unicast, proxy component 708 may relay the multimedia content to UE 716 via P-GW 702 and unicast bearer 712. If the content is to be delivered by broadcast, proxy component 708 may relay the content to the UE via eMBMS bearer 710.

  FIG. 8 shows more detailed components of system 800 including UE / mobile entity 802, BM-SC 804, and content server 806. The UE 802 can communicate directly with the content server 806 (ie, through a communication network component but without changing the information being communicated), and more specifically, the UE 802's DASH, HLS, ALS, Each AHS or similar adaptive streaming client component 808 can communicate directly with a corresponding DASH, HLS, ALS, AHS or similar adaptive streaming server component 810 of the server 806, respectively. Further, the redirection component can optionally redirect adaptive streaming communication from the UE 802 to the proxy component 812 of the BM-SC 804 using a conditional redirection component (not shown). Proxy component 812 can communicate with adaptive streaming server component 810 and appears to content server 806 indistinguishable from client 802. Alternatively or additionally, the UE may include an adaptive streaming (eg, DASH, HLS, ALS, AHS, or similar) component 814 that communicates directly with the proxy component 812 for broadcast communication.

  For example, using the DASH implementation, the proxy component 812 registers with the content server 806 as a client, and from that server, for example, a media presentation description (MPD) described below with reference to FIG. Metadata can be acquired. Using MPD, proxy component 812 can select the desired representation to be used for the broadcast service, where the representation includes at least aspects related to the required data rate for streaming to UE 802. Some aspects of the available data format for are shown. The MPD may also specify a different address for each available format, such as a uniform resource locator (URL). The proxy component 812 processes the MPD from the content server 806 and creates a new operator selection representation for delivering the requested content to the broadcast capable device (or alternatively for unicast delivery). MPD can be created. This MPD and associated initialization segment (IS) is provided as part of the service description by proxy component 812 for broadcast delivery 816 from broadcast module 834 of BM-SC 804 to broadcast module 832 of UE 802. obtain. Distribution of the service description is obtained by either unicast 818 or broadcast distribution 816. Distribution of content by unicast transmission may be provided from the unicast module 836 of the BM-SC 804 to the unicast module 830 of the UE 802. Data structures similar to MPD, initialization segment and representation may exist in non-DASH format.

  FIG. 9A illustrates a method 900 that may be implemented by the system 700 or 800 using DASH or similar adaptive streaming protocol. At 902, a content server serving content for unicast or multicast delivery can send an MPD for a particular multimedia content to a DASH proxy. At 904, the DASH proxy may convert the MPD received from the DASH server. Transform 904 may include a transform to include one or more representations according to a predefined control scheme, such as a network operator selection rate for unicast or broadcast delivery, or representations corresponding only to the broadcast rate. The predefined control scheme may be configured by a network operator or received from another network entity.

  Alternatively or in addition, transformation 904 may include a transformation to remove or exclude one or more representations corresponding to content server support rates that are not supported by the operator of the distribution network. At 906, the DASH proxy may send the converted MPD to the UE. Following 906, the UE may request data in a format controlled by the proxy component from the content server using the representation defined in the MPD.

  The method 900 can be used to address possible problems, and the original source representation from the content server is different from the desired output format from the broadcast server. In general, content streamed from a content server can be transformatted or reformatted from the listed format of the content to the DASH format. In this process, some parameters can be mapped directly from one format to another. If none of the available representations from the source unicast server (content server) meet the network requirements for bit rate, the media in the individual files will have some quality degradation and / or bit rate increase or decrease Can be decoded and re-encoded (eg, transcoded). It is preferable to re-encode the media data from the highest quality representation available. To reduce the bit rate efficiency, This can be dealt with by using a more efficient codec such as H.265. The advantage of re-encoding media data is that random access point (RAP) locations can be changed or inserted in the representation to provide the desired or consistent behavior among all broadcast services. The RAP location allows random access to the representation by the client.

  In some embodiments, a gateway (eg, P-GW) in the relevant network may detect new requests for high load URLs and redirect these requests to the appropriate broadcast service URL. it can. The network may further block and / or terminate the unicast service and redirect the device receiving the unicast service to the broadcast service.

  In an aspect, the method 900 may include providing an information detail of the number of devices serviced by broadcast and device identity information to the content server. This data may be provided from a usage tracking server.

  FIG. 9B shows details related to multimedia content 950. The multimedia content may be in a segment 954 that includes two parts, metadata in the form of MPD 952, and the actual encoded media data 956 as a multimedia bitstream. The MPD 952 can be delivered to the client along with other service description metadata in response to a unicast get request or by broadcast delivery. These metadata items are not part of the media data fetch. At least one of the segments 954 (eg, the first segment) is an initialization segment (IS) without encoded media data 956 that defines the data format details for the other segment 954. Good. The MPD 952 can describe a URL address from which media data for the UE is fetched from for unicast delivery. Alternatively, the URL address may appear on the receiving device for broadcast delivery. Broadcast delivery can provide a cache on the UE.

  FIG. 9C illustrates an exemplary conversion of multimedia content 950A-B. The range of changes allowed for MPD 952 by the proxy component may, for example, convert available multimedia content 950A from a first format to multimedia content 950B in a second format desired for broadcast. And changing the description 952A to 952B accordingly. In addition, the proxy component can reformat the description from 952A to 952B. The modified or reformatted description may include a new URL for locating the converted multimedia content 950B. Additionally or alternatively, the proxy component can re-encode the media data from 956A to 956B. The original and target video codecs (video formats) are MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264 and so on. Any one of H.264, H, 265, etc. may be included. As another alternative or addition, the proxy component can change the media data file wrapper format from 954A to 954B.

  FIG. 10 shows an exemplary call flow 1000 as an example only. Since each UE need only support broadcast DASH, not multiple methods, the use of a single method for broadcast file streaming can simplify the qualification process for the UE. Corresponding savings in design can be realized to the extent that UE design for broadcast is common for all unicast formats. Rather than certifying each new UE, the transform entity (eg, proxy component) need only be certified once. New UEs can be released multiple times a year.

  Since DASH uses HTTP as the transfer protocol, the client UE 1002 sets up a unicast connection with the DASH server 1010. The DASH proxy 1008 intercepts the HTTP request generated by the UE 1002. Interception can be accomplished by a DASH proxy 1008 acting as an endpoint for a unicast socket connection set up by the UE 1002. As described above, the UE thereby fetches the DASH segment for multimedia content using the transformed URL modified by the proxy component 1008. To conceal the conversion from the DASH server 1010, the DASH proxy 1008 may reverse the URL representation conversion to the original unchanged format before relaying the HTTP request from the client 1002 to the DASH server 1010. Since the DASH server 1010 receives the request via the unchanged URL, transcoding in the DASH proxy 1008 can be transparent to the DASH server 1010.

  Further, while delivering the DASH segment beyond eMBMS, DASH proxy 1008 is used to process the DASH content obtained from DASH server 1010 using HTTP and deliver the content and file via broadcast transport. It is possible to move to another transport mechanism such as File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE).

  If a new encoding is introduced in DASH proxy 1008, DASH proxy 1008 may use a new expression while replying to DASH client 1002 based on content received from DASH server 1010 using expressions supported by DASH server 1010. Encoded forms can be used. As described above, the location may appear on the receiving device 1004 for broadcast delivery, which may provide a cache on the UE broadcast module 1004.

  The example call flow 1000 may proceed as follows. In step 1020, an application at UE 1003 requests content found at a URL. In step 1024, the DASH client 1002 in the UE 1003 requests content by HTTP-GET. DASH-BC 1004 in unicast mode 1022 forwards the request to DASH server 1010 at 1026. The HDM 1006 can detect high demand for content at 1027 by counting the number of UEs accessing the same content from the same area. The HDM 1006 may send a high demand indication to the DASH proxy 1008. At step 1030, the DASH server 1010 responds to the request to the UE 1003 with an HTTP-REPLY message via the BM-SC and P-GW (eg, 610 in FIG. 6). In step 1032, based on high demand, DASH proxy 1008 may decide to establish an eMBMS session. In steps 1034 and 1036, the DASH proxy 1008 retrieves content from the DASH server 1010. The UE 1003 enters the broadcast mode 1038 and receives content by broadcast distribution in Step 1040. The content can be cached at UE 1003 (eg, at DASH-BC 1004) at 1042, for delivery to DASH client 1002 at steps 1044, 1046.

Exemplary Methods and Apparatus As an additional example, additional methods that can be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matter can be better understood with reference to various flowcharts. For ease of explanation, the method is shown and described as a series of actions / acts. However, because some operations may be performed in a different order and / or substantially simultaneously with other operations than those illustrated and described herein, claimed subject matter is the number of operations or It is not limited by the order. Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement a methodology described herein. It should be appreciated that the functionality related to operation may be implemented by software, hardware, combinations thereof or any other suitable means (eg, device, system, process, or component). Further, the methods disclosed throughout this specification may be stored as encoded instructions and / or data on an article of manufacture that allows such methods to be transferred and transferred to various devices. Please further understand that it is possible. Those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a method could alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram.

Network entity / BM-SC
FIGS. 11-14 are diagrams for controlling the encoding format for multimedia content provided to multimedia clients of a wireless communication network (WCN) using a proxy component in a BM-SC or other network entity. The related method is shown. The multimedia client may be a mobile entity or may include a mobile entity. The encoding format may or may include a data rate for unicast adaptive streaming segments, a data rate for broadcast transmission, or related parameters. As used herein, broadcasts generally include multicast, such as MBMS or eMBMS. Broadcasts can also include other types of broadcasts, including those that are not multicast. The method 1100 can be used with unicast delivery of multimedia content in response to dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP, or a similar protocol. An additional operational aspect shown in the method 1100, or related drawings, is that any mobile device that receives a multicast transmission does not provide feedback to the BM-SC, either with a broadcast protocol that is downlink only or from a unicast distribution. It can also be used in the transition to distribution. The method 1100 shown in FIG. 11 modifies a data structure that associates different locators or location indications for multimedia content with different encoding formats for multimedia content at 1102 in the proxy component of the WCN network entity. Obtaining a modified data structure. The proxy component can modify the data structure in a variety of different ways, which are described below in connection with FIG. 12, and are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

  The “encoding format” used in 1102 and related operations refers to a structure for defining metadata used for unicast or broadcast streaming, primarily as described above in connection with FIG. 9B. I want to be understood. This encoding format is directly related to the transmission data rate of the content data, which means that the encoding format determines the maximum achievable data rate for a given transmission medium and conditions. In other situations, the encoding format may refer to a multimedia format that is not directly related to the unicast / multicast / broadcast data rate. The multimedia format may be indirectly related to the data rate, for example, in that a higher definition format may benefit from a higher transmission data rate to allow for a faster frame rate. For example, a higher definition format (eg, 1080p resolution) requires a higher transmission data rate per video frame than a lower definition format (eg, 480p). The same high transmission data rate may allow a constant frame rate (eg, 60 Hz) for higher definition formats and a higher frame rate (eg, greater than 60 Hz) for lower definition formats. However, the benefits of displaying a lower definition format at a frame rate above a certain frame rate (eg, 60 Hz) may be insignificant.

  The data structure, the modified data structure, or both may be (or may include) a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation by a dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) protocol. Alternatively or additionally, the data structure may be an initialization segment (IS) or may include an IS. The encoding format may be a more comprehensive QoS aspect that uses parameters such as bit rate, media type, resolution, frame rate, or other parameters related to the bandwidth required for multicast transmission. Such parameters can be indicated by expressions defined in MPD. Alternatively or additionally, the data structure may be a service guide for a broadcast service or may include a service guide. The service guide may include a locator or location indication for a broadcast service or a multicast service and an indication of the encoding format and / or quality of service.

  The method 1100 may further include, at 1104, controlling an encoding format for multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client, at least in part by a modified data structure. Other operations, including but not limited to one or more of the additional operations 1200, 1300, and 1400, can be implemented to affect control of the encoding format. For example, in some embodiments, control may be further affected by providing a data structure from the proxy component to the client. A proxy entity or proxy component can provide a client interface to the content server such that the content server interacts with the multimedia client in other ways. Similarly, the proxy component may provide a content server interface to the multimedia client such that the multimedia client interacts with the proxy component as when the multimedia client interacts with the content server. Thus, the proxy component can be transparent to both the content server and the multimedia client. However, behind this transparency, the proxy component can send one or more messages between the multimedia client and the content server, the data transmission rate for the requested multimedia content, and the MPD or service guide. It can be modified to control other parameters shown in the representation. For example, the proxy component may change the data structure so that the multimedia client can select only the encoding format or QoS allowed or allowed by the proxy component. As a further example, the proxy component can control the encoding format for broadcast transmissions by acting as a one-to-many client for the content server. More detailed aspects and examples are given below in connection with FIGS.

  Additional operations 1200, 1300 and 1400, or related operations for controlling the encoding format for implementation by the network entity / proxy component, are shown in FIGS. One or more of operations 1200, 1300 and 1400 may optionally be performed as part of method 1100. Elements 1200, 1300 and 1400 can be implemented in any order of operation, or can be encompassed by a development algorithm without requiring a specific order of implementation. The operations are performed independently and are not mutually exclusive. Thus, any one of such operations can be performed regardless of whether another downstream or upstream operation is performed. For example, if method 1100 includes at least one of operations 1200, then method 1100 need not necessarily include any subsequent downstream operation (s) that may be illustrated, after at least one operation. It can end.

  Referring to FIG. 12, an add operation 1200 may include, at 1202, providing a modified data structure to at least one multimedia client. In an aspect shown at 1204, the proxy component can modify the data structure by deleting one or more locators or location indications and the corresponding encoding format. This can be described as filtering records from MPD, IS, or other data structures that delete records that are not related to the network or service area or cannot be handled at a particular time. For example, the proxy component may filter out addresses and representations that require higher network bandwidth than can be reliably supported by the network.

  Alternatively or in addition, the add operation 1200 may be performed at 1206 by adding one or more locators or position indications and corresponding encoding formats, eg, as described above with reference to FIG. 9C. It may include modifying the structure. For example, at 1206, the proxy component can add one or more locators or location indications and instructions about data formats or transmission rates that are not otherwise supported or available from the content server. . This addition, for example, transforms the MPD received from the DASH content server to include an expression corresponding to the operator selected video resolution, unicast data rate and broadcast data rate, or an expression corresponding only to the broadcast data rate. Can be included. Subsequently, at 1208, the method can include transcoding multimedia content from the content server according to the data format and the new encoding format. Note that the content server cannot be controlled by the network operator. Thus, the content server cannot provide a data format having a data rate desired by the network operator. Thus, the operator may use operations 1206 and 1208 to provide content in the desired format for unicast or multicast.

  As another alternative or addition, the add operation 1200 may include, at 1210, adding an attribute to indicate a transmission mode selected from unicast and broadcast for each of the encoding formats. . In certain aspects, this addition may allow the proxy component to provide a data structure that combines information about adaptive streaming (eg, MPD) with information about broadcast services (eg, service guides). . Thus, the client can efficiently access information about content delivered by both unicast and broadcast transmissions from the composite data structure.

  Referring to FIG. 13, an add operation 1300 may include, at 1302, selecting one or more encoding formats for multimedia broadcast multicast transmission. The encoding format may or may not be for a data rate supported by the content server. If the data rate is not supported by the content server, the proxy component transcodes the multimedia content from the content server into a format with the desired data rate or resolution for broadcast, eg, one or more including an MBSFN area It may be provided to another entity for broadcast in multiple broadcast areas. The add operation 1300 may further include, at 1304, selecting one or more encoding formats for distribution of content via unicast transmission. The encoding format may relate to a format indicated by a similar data structure for MPD or adaptive streaming. For example, the add operation 1300 may include, at 1306, selecting an encoding format for the data structure, where the data structure defines an address for each media representation that includes the encoding format according to the DASH protocol. Is provided. The add operation 1300 sends the multimedia content from the proxy component to the at least one multimedia client via the DASH segment without the proxy component receiving an explicit request for the DASH segment from the at least one multimedia client. May further include. Further, the proxy component can instruct one or more locators or location indications to at least one multimedia client using a corresponding URL inserted in the file description table (FDT) of the FLUTE object.

  Referring to FIG. 14, an add operation 1400 may include, at 1402, intercepting a request for multimedia content addressed for delivery to a content server, where the request is from at least one multimedia client. Originated and addressed by data structure. The request may be (or may include) an HTTP request. The request can be selectively redirected to the proxy component by another network component, eg, by HDM. When not redirected, the multimedia client request may be received by the content server rather than by the proxy component. The method 1400 may further include, at 1404, converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request and providing the converted request to the content server. The transform may include transcoding, trans format, or both, and may include a decoding operation and a re-encoding operation. The converted request may be modified to request multimedia content from the content server in a format supported by the network. At 1406, the method allows the proxy component to receive the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request and to send the multimedia content to at least one multimedia client, eg, by unicast adaptive streaming segments. Relaying to. Alternatively, the proxy component may be excluded from receiving multimedia content in any format that can be provided to the multimedia client from the content server via one or more other network entities.

  In a further alternative, the proxy component can provide the converted content to the network component for broadcast within a definition area, eg, an MBSFN area or a service area. According to this alternative, the proxy component can act as a one-to-many server of broadcast content for multiple clients without intercepting requests for streaming segments. Instead, the proxy component intercepts or possibly receives a request for a service guide and generates a service guide for a broadcast or multicast service in response to one or more such requests. be able to. The proxy component uses information from the content server regarding available encoding formats for the requested data, event data such as the time to start broadcasting specific content, and current or expected network conditions. A service guide can be generated. The proxy component may provide a service guide to the client requesting the guide.

  Referring to FIG. 15A, a processor, component for use as or in a BM-SC in a wireless network for controlling the encoding format used in a unicast or broadcast service from a content provider Alternatively, an exemplary apparatus 1500 that can be configured as a similar device is listed. Apparatus 1500 can include functional blocks that can represent functions implemented by a processor, software, or combination thereof (eg, firmware).

  As shown, in one embodiment, the device 1500 modifies a data structure that associates different locators or position indications for multimedia content with respective different encoding formats for multimedia content, thereby creating a modified data structure. An electrical component or module 1502 for obtaining may be included. For example, the electrical component or module 1502 includes at least one control processor coupled to a network interface (eg, transmitter, receiver, transceiver), etc., and to a memory having instructions for modifying an MPD or service guide. May be included. Apparatus 1500 includes an electrical component or module 1504 for controlling the encoding format for multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client, at least in part by modifying the operation of component 1502. May be included. For example, the electrical component or module 1504 presents a client (ie, multimedia client) interface to the content server, presents the content server interface to the multimedia client, receives and transmits signals through those interfaces, and data structures At least one control processor coupled to a memory holding instructions for controlling the encoding format using the described modifications. The data structure may be, for example, a DASH MPD representation or service guide for broadcast or may include a service guide. Apparatus 1500 is similar to perform any or all of the additional operations 1200, 1300, and 1400 described in connection with FIGS. 12-14, not shown in FIG. 15A for ease of explanation. It can include electrical components or modules.

  In a related aspect, for a device 1500 configured as a network entity, the device 1500 can optionally include a processor component 1510 having at least one processor. In such a case, processor 1510 may be in operative communication with components 1502-1504 or similar components via bus 1512 or similar communication coupling. The processor 1510 may initiate and schedule processes or functions performed by the electrical components or modules 1502-1504.

  In a further related aspect, the apparatus 1500 can include a network interface component 1514 for communicating with other network entities. Apparatus 1500 may optionally include components for storing information, such as memory device / component 1516, for example. Computer readable media or memory component 1516 may be operatively coupled to other components of apparatus 1500, such as via bus 1512. Memory component 1516 is computer readable for performing activities of components 1502-1504 and their subcomponents, or processor 1510, additional operations 1200, 1300, and 1400, or the methods disclosed herein. It can be adapted to store instructions and data. Memory component 1516 may retain instructions for executing functions associated with components 1502-1504. Although shown as being external to memory 1516, it should be understood that components 1502-1504 may be internal to memory 1516.

  With reference to FIG. 15B, additional optional components or modules of apparatus 1500 are shown. For example, apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1520 for providing a modified data structure to at least one multimedia client. The electrical component or module 1520 may be a network interface 1514 or a network interface 1514 coupled to the processor 1510 and / or memory 1516. For example, apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1522 for modifying the data structure by deleting one or more locators or position indications and corresponding encoding formats. Apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1524 for modifying the data structure by adding one or more locators or location indications and at least one new encoding format. Apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1526 for transcoding multimedia content from a content server according to a new encoding format. Apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1528 for adding an attribute to indicate a selected transmission mode from unicast and broadcast for each of the encoding formats.

  With reference to FIG. 15C, additional optional components or modules of apparatus 1500 are shown. For example, apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1530 for selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting content. For example, apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1532 for selecting one or more encoding formats for distribution of content via unicast transmission. Apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1534 for controlling the data structure to provide an MPD that defines an address for each media representation that includes an encoding format according to the DASH protocol.

  With reference to FIG. 15D, additional optional components or modules of apparatus 1500 are shown. For example, apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1536 for intercepting a request for multimedia content that is addressed for delivery to a content server, where the request is from at least one multimedia client. Originated and addressed by data structure. The electrical component or module 1536 may be a network interface 1514 or a network interface 1514 coupled to the processor 1510 and / or memory 1516. For example, apparatus 1500 may further include an electrical component or module 1538 for converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request and providing the converted request to a content server. Apparatus 1500 can further include an electrical component or module 1540 for receiving multimedia content from content served in response to the converted request and relaying the multimedia content to at least one mobile entity. The electrical component or module 1540 may be a network interface 1514 or a network interface 1514 coupled to the processor 1510 and / or memory 1516.

  Those of skill in the art will understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description are voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any of them Can be represented by a combination.

  Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. Let's be done. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in a variety of ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be construed as departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

  Various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure herein may be general purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or others. Programmable logic devices, individual gate or transistor logic, individual hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor is also implemented as a combination of computing devices, eg, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. obtain.

  The method or algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented directly in hardware, in software modules executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. . A software module resides in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Can do. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in the user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

  In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and computer communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer readable media can be RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or desired program in the form of instructions or data structures. Any other medium that can be used to carry or store the code means and that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer, or a general purpose or special purpose processor. Also, any connection can be appropriately referred to as a computer readable medium as long as it involves non-temporary storage of transmitted signals. For example, the software can use a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technology such as infrared, wireless, and microwave, from a website, server, or other remote source When transmitted, wireless technology such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or infrared, radio, and microwave allows signals to be transmitted into the transmission chain on the storage medium or device memory at any non-transitory time. As long as it is retained, it is included in the media definition. As used herein, a disk and a disc are a compact disc (CD), a laser disc (registered trademark) (disc), an optical disc (disc), a digital versatile disc (DVD). ), Floppy® disk and Blu-ray® disk, which normally reproduces the data magnetically, and the disk uses a laser to reproduce the data. Reproduce optically. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

  The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Accordingly, the present disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Accordingly, the present disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
Hereinafter, the invention described in the scope of claims of the present application will be appended.
[C1]
A method for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content for a multimedia client of a wireless communication network (WCN) comprising:
In the proxy component of the WCN network entity, modify a data structure that associates one or more different locators for multimedia content with each different encoding format for the multimedia content to obtain a modified data structure And
Controlling the encoding format for the multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client, at least in part by the modified data structure.
[C2]
The method of C1, further comprising providing the modified data structure to the at least one multimedia client.
[C3]
The method of C1, wherein modifying the data structure comprises deleting one or more locators and corresponding encoding formats.
[C4]
The method of C1, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding one or more locators and at least one new encoding format.
[C5]
The encoding format is MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264, or the like. H.264 or at least one of H and 265, and the new encoding format is MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264. 264, or the method of C1, comprising at least one of H, 265.
[C6]
The method of C5, further comprising transcoding multimedia content from a content server according to the at least one new encoding format.
[C7]
The method of C1, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding an attribute to indicate one of a unicast or broadcast transmission mode for each of the encoding formats.
[C8]
The method of C1, wherein controlling the encoding format further comprises selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting the multimedia content.
[C9]
In C1, the data structure comprises a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation including the encoding format according to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) (DASH) protocol. The method described.
[C10]
Further transmitting the multimedia content from the proxy component in the DASH segment to the at least one multimedia client without receiving an explicit request for the DASH segment from the at least one multimedia client. The method of C9, comprising.
[C11]
The proxy component uses the corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) inserted into the file description table (FDT) of a File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) object to the one or more different locators to the at least one The method of C10, further comprising instructing one multimedia client.
[C12]
Intercepting a request for multimedia content that is addressed for delivery to a content server, wherein the request originates from at least one multimedia client and is addressed by the data structure; The method of C1, further comprising.
[C13]
Controlling the encoding format further comprises converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request, and providing the converted request to the content server. , C11.
[C14]
The method of C13, further comprising: receiving the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request; and relaying the multimedia content to the at least one multimedia client. .
[C15]
The method of C1, wherein the proxy component comprises a DASH proxy entity and the WCN network entity comprises a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC).
[C16]
A system for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content provided to a multimedia client of a wireless communication network (WCN) comprising:
In the proxy component of the WCN network entity, modify a data structure received from a content server that associates different locators for multimedia content with respective different encoding formats for the multimedia content, and A system comprising means for obtaining and thereby controlling the encoding format for the multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client.
[C17]
The system of C16, further comprising means for providing the modified data structure to the at least one multimedia client.
[C18]
The system of C16, wherein modifying the data structure comprises deleting one or more locators and corresponding encoding formats.
[C19]
The system of C16, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding one or more locators and at least one new encoding format.
[C20]
The system of C19, further comprising means for transcoding multimedia content from a content server according to the at least one new encoding format.
[C21]
The system of C16, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding an attribute to indicate one of a unicast or broadcast transmission mode for each of the encoding formats.
[C22]
The system of C16, wherein controlling the encoding format further comprises selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting the multimedia content.
[C23]
In C16, the data structure comprises a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation including the encoding format according to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) (DASH) protocol. The described system.
[C24]
Means for sending the multimedia content from the proxy component in the DASH segment to the at least one multimedia client without receiving an explicit request for the DASH segment from the at least one multimedia client The system according to C23, further comprising:
[C25]
The proxy component uses the corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) inserted in a file description table (FDT) of a File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) object to the at least one different locator. The system of C24, further comprising means for instructing one multimedia client.
[C26]
Means for intercepting a request for multimedia content addressed for delivery to a content server, wherein the request originates from at least one multimedia client and is addressed by the data structure The system of C16, further comprising means.
[C27]
Controlling the encoding format further comprises converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request, and providing the converted request to the content server. The system according to C26.
[C28]
C27 further comprising means for receiving the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request, and means for relaying the multimedia content to the at least one multimedia client. The system described in.
[C29]
The system of C16, wherein the proxy component comprises a DASH proxy component and the WCN network entity comprises a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC).
[C30]
A system for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content provided to a multimedia client of a wireless communication network (WCN) comprising:
Modify the data structure received from the content server to associate different locators for the multimedia content with each different encoding format for the multimedia content to obtain a modified data structure, to at least one multimedia client At least one configured to act as a proxy component of a WCN network entity between the at least one multimedia client and the content server to control an encoding format for the multimedia content provided One processor and
A system coupled to the at least one processor for storing data.
[C31]
The system of C30, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide the modified data structure to the at least one multimedia client.
[C32]
The system of C30, wherein modifying the data structure comprises deleting one or more locators and corresponding encoding formats.
[C33]
The system of C30, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding one or more locators and at least one new encoding format.
[C34]
The system of C33, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transcode multimedia content from a content server according to the at least one new encoding format.
[C35]
The system of C30, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding an attribute to indicate one of a unicast or broadcast transmission mode for each of the encoding formats.
[C36]
The system of C30, wherein controlling the encoding format further comprises selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting the multimedia content.
[C37]
In C30, the data structure comprises a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation including the encoding format according to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) (DASH) protocol. The described system.
[C38]
The at least one processor receives the explicit request for the DASH segment from the proxy component in the DASH segment to the at least one multimedia client without receiving an explicit request from the at least one multimedia client. The system of C37, further configured to transmit content.
[C39]
The at least one processor uses the corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) inserted into a file description table (FDT) of a File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) object to place the one or more different locators into the at least one The system of C38, further configured to direct one multimedia client.
[C40]
The at least one processor is further configured to intercept a request for multimedia content addressed for delivery to a content server, the request originating from at least one multimedia client; The system of C30, addressed according to:
[C41]
Controlling the encoding format further comprises converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request, and providing the converted request to the content server. The system according to C40.
[C42]
The at least one processor is further configured to receive the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request and to relay the multimedia content to the at least one multimedia client. The system of C41.
[C43]
The system of C30, wherein the proxy component comprises a DASH proxy entity and the WCN network entity comprises a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC).
[C44]
Associate a different locator for multimedia content with each different encoding format for the multimedia content, modify the data structure received from the content server to obtain a modified data structure and provide to at least one multimedia client A computer-readable medium comprising code for operating as a proxy component of a WCN network entity between the at least one multimedia client and the content server for controlling an encoding format for the multimedia content to be played A computer program product comprising:
[C45]
The computer program product of C44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide the modified data structure to the at least one multimedia client.
[C46]
The computer program product of C44, wherein modifying the data structure comprises deleting one or more locators and corresponding encoding formats.
[C47]
The computer program product according to C44, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding one or more locators and at least one new encoding format.
[C48]
The computer program product of C47, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transcode multimedia content from a content server in accordance with the at least one new encoding format.
[C49]
The computer program according to C44, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding an attribute to indicate one of a unicast or broadcast transmission mode for each of the encoding formats. Product.
[C50]
The computer program product of C44, wherein controlling the encoding format further comprises selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting the multimedia content.
[C51]
In C44, the data structure comprises a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation including the encoding format according to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) (DASH) protocol. The computer program product described.
[C52]
The at least one processor receives the explicit request for the DASH segment from the proxy component in the DASH segment to the at least one multimedia client without receiving an explicit request from the at least one multimedia client. The computer program product according to C51, further configured to transmit content.
[C53]
The at least one processor uses the corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) inserted into a file description table (FDT) of a File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) object to place the one or more different locators into the at least one The computer program product according to C52, further configured to direct one multimedia client.
[C54]
The at least one processor is further configured to intercept a request for multimedia content addressed for delivery to a content server, the request originating from at least one multimedia client; The computer program product of C44, addressed according to:
[C55]
Controlling the encoding format further comprises converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request, and providing the converted request to the content server. , C54 computer program product.
[C56]
The at least one processor is further configured to receive the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request and to relay the multimedia content to the at least one multimedia client. A computer program product according to C55.
[C57]
The computer program product of C44, wherein the proxy component comprises a DASH proxy entity and the WCN network entity comprises a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC).

Claims (57)

A method for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content for a multimedia client of a wireless communication network (WCN) comprising:
In the proxy component of the WCN network entity, modify a data structure that associates one or more different locators for multimedia content with each different encoding format for the multimedia content to obtain a modified data structure And
Controlling the encoding format for the multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client, at least in part by the modified data structure.   The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the modified data structure to the at least one multimedia client.   The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the data structure comprises deleting one or more locators and corresponding encoding formats.   The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding one or more locators and at least one new encoding format.   The encoding format is MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264, or the like. H.264 or at least one of H and 265, and the new encoding format is MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264. The method of claim 1, comprising at least one of H.264 or H, 265.   6. The method of claim 5, further comprising transcoding multimedia content from a content server according to the at least one new encoding format.   The data structure of claim 1, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding an attribute to indicate one of a unicast or broadcast transmission mode for each of the encoding formats. Method.   The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the encoding format further comprises selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting the multimedia content.   The data structure comprises a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation including the encoding format according to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) (DASH) protocol. The method according to 1.   Further transmitting the multimedia content from the proxy component in the DASH segment to the at least one multimedia client without receiving an explicit request for the DASH segment from the at least one multimedia client. 10. The method of claim 9, comprising.   The proxy component uses the corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) inserted into the file description table (FDT) of a File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) object to the one or more different locators to the at least one The method of claim 10, further comprising directing to one multimedia client.   Intercepting a request for multimedia content that is addressed for delivery to a content server, wherein the request originates from at least one multimedia client and is addressed by the data structure; The method of claim 1, further comprising:   Controlling the encoding format further comprises converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request, and providing the converted request to the content server. The method of claim 11.   14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request; and relaying the multimedia content to the at least one multimedia client. the method of.   The method of claim 1, wherein the proxy component comprises a DASH proxy entity and the WCN network entity comprises a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC). A system for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content provided to a multimedia client of a wireless communication network (WCN) comprising:
In the proxy component of the WCN network entity, modify a data structure received from a content server that associates different locators for multimedia content with respective different encoding formats for the multimedia content, and A system comprising means for obtaining and thereby controlling the encoding format for the multimedia content provided to at least one multimedia client.   The system of claim 16, further comprising means for providing the modified data structure to the at least one multimedia client.   The system of claim 16, wherein modifying the data structure comprises deleting one or more locators and corresponding encoding formats.   The system of claim 16, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding one or more locators and at least one new encoding format.   The system of claim 19, further comprising means for transcoding multimedia content from a content server according to the at least one new encoding format.   17. The data structure of claim 16, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding an attribute to indicate one of a unicast or broadcast transmission mode for each of the encoding formats. system.   The system of claim 16, wherein controlling the encoding format further comprises selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting the multimedia content.   The data structure comprises a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation including the encoding format according to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) (DASH) protocol. 16. The system according to 16.   Means for transmitting the multimedia content from the proxy component in the DASH segment to the at least one multimedia client without receiving an explicit request for the DASH segment from the at least one multimedia client. 24. The system of claim 23, further comprising:   The proxy component uses the corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) inserted in a file description table (FDT) of a File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) object to the at least one different locator. The system of claim 24, further comprising means for directing one multimedia client.   Means for intercepting a request for multimedia content addressed for delivery to a content server, wherein the request originates from at least one multimedia client and is addressed by the data structure The system of claim 16, further comprising means.   Controlling the encoding format further comprises converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request, and providing the converted request to the content server. 27. The system of claim 26.   Means for receiving the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request; and means for relaying the multimedia content to the at least one multimedia client. Item 28. The system according to Item 27.   The system of claim 16, wherein the proxy component comprises a DASH proxy component and the WCN network entity comprises a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC). A system for controlling the encoding format of multimedia content provided to a multimedia client of a wireless communication network (WCN) comprising:
Modify the data structure received from the content server to associate different locators for the multimedia content with each different encoding format for the multimedia content to obtain a modified data structure, to at least one multimedia client At least one configured to act as a proxy component of a WCN network entity between the at least one multimedia client and the content server to control an encoding format for the multimedia content provided One processor and
A system coupled to the at least one processor for storing data.   32. The system of claim 30, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide the modified data structure to the at least one multimedia client.   32. The system of claim 30, wherein modifying the data structure comprises deleting one or more locators and corresponding encoding formats.   32. The system of claim 30, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding one or more locators and at least one new encoding format.   34. The system of claim 33, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transcode multimedia content from a content server according to the at least one new encoding format.   The data structure of claim 30, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding an attribute to indicate one of a unicast or broadcast transmission mode for each of the encoding formats. system.   32. The system of claim 30, wherein controlling the encoding format further comprises selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting the multimedia content.   The data structure comprises a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation including the encoding format according to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) (DASH) protocol. 30. The system according to 30.   The at least one processor receives the explicit request for the DASH segment from the proxy component in the DASH segment to the at least one multimedia client without receiving an explicit request from the at least one multimedia client. 38. The system of claim 37, further configured for transmitting content.   The at least one processor uses the corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) inserted into a file description table (FDT) of a File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) object to place the one or more different locators into the at least one 40. The system of claim 38, further configured to direct one multimedia client.   The at least one processor is further configured to intercept a request for multimedia content addressed for delivery to a content server, the request originating from at least one multimedia client; 32. The system of claim 30, wherein the system is addressed according to:   Controlling the encoding format further comprises converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request, and providing the converted request to the content server. 41. The system of claim 40.   The at least one processor is further configured to receive the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request and to relay the multimedia content to the at least one multimedia client. 42. The system of claim 41, wherein:   31. The system of claim 30, wherein the proxy component comprises a DASH proxy entity and the WCN network entity comprises a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC).   Associate a different locator for multimedia content with each different encoding format for the multimedia content, modify the data structure received from the content server to obtain a modified data structure and provide to at least one multimedia client A computer-readable medium comprising code for operating as a proxy component of a WCN network entity between the at least one multimedia client and the content server for controlling an encoding format for the multimedia content to be played A computer program product comprising:   45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide the modified data structure to the at least one multimedia client.   45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein modifying the data structure comprises deleting one or more locators and corresponding encoding formats.   45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding one or more locators and at least one new encoding format.   48. The computer program product of claim 47, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transcode multimedia content from a content server according to the at least one new encoding format.   45. The method of claim 44, wherein modifying the data structure comprises adding an attribute to indicate one of a unicast or broadcast transmission mode for each of the encoding formats. Computer program product.   45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein controlling the encoding format further comprises selecting one or more encoding formats for broadcasting the multimedia content.   The data structure comprises a media presentation description (MPD) that defines an address for each media representation including the encoding format according to a dynamic adaptive streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) (DASH) protocol. 44. A computer program product according to 44.   The at least one processor receives the explicit request for the DASH segment from the proxy component in the DASH segment to the at least one multimedia client without receiving an explicit request from the at least one multimedia client. 52. The computer program product of claim 51, further configured for transmitting content.   The at least one processor uses the corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) inserted into a file description table (FDT) of a File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (FLUTE) object to place the one or more different locators into the at least one 53. The computer program product of claim 52, further configured to direct one multimedia client.   The at least one processor is further configured to intercept a request for multimedia content addressed for delivery to a content server, the request originating from at least one multimedia client; 45. The computer program product of claim 44, addressed according to:   Controlling the encoding format further comprises converting the request according to a predefined control scheme to obtain the converted request, and providing the converted request to the content server. 55. The computer program product of claim 54.   The at least one processor is further configured to receive the multimedia content from the content server in response to the converted request and to relay the multimedia content to the at least one multimedia client. 56. The computer program product of claim 55, wherein:   45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the proxy component comprises a DASH proxy entity and the WCN network entity comprises a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC).

Images